Always by your side
by IGotYouFirst
Summary: Before Loki was taken by Thor back to Asgard to pay for his crimes, he secretly turns Tony into a tiger and well.. Chaos follows
1. Chapter 1

Chapter 1

The night had been a restless one. Tony had hardly got any sleep, waiting for Pepper to get home, thinking of everything that had happened with Loki and the wormhole. The morning had been a familiar one, something he was thankful for, the sound of JARVIS giving hi an update of the time, local weather and other boring things he didn't really care about and the golden sunshine streaming through the window. He stretched and yawned thinking to himself that the bed seemed slightly bigger and rather empty. Probably because Pepper isn't here he had thought to himself just before he heard the comforting sound of Pepper's voice as she came up the stairs to find him. He opened his mouth to great her and say how glad he was that she was home but the sound that came out wasn't his voice.

It was a little growl.

Pepper walked into their bedroom and frowned, unable to see Tony in the room, assuming that the small lump on the bed was one of his pillows until she heard the little growl. "T-Tony?"

Another little growl and some slight movement from under the sheets. She slowly walked closer to the bed, hesitantly reaching out a hand towards the sheets to pull them back

_What in Thor's name is going on?! _He thought to himself as his tail swished from side to side. Feeling the strange sensation he looked round to see an orange and black tail and leaped up out of the sheets, making Pepper stumble backwards.

_I have a tail! Why do I have a tail?! Why is the bed so big?! What's going on?!_

Pepper stared at the little tiger cub that was currently sitting on the bed, chasing its tail like a dog when she noticed the small blue glow. Looking closer she realised that it was in fact the blue glow of the arc reactor that comforted her at night letting her know that Tony was still next to her.

"Tony..?"

He looked at her then tried to speak only to find that the only sound he could make was either growling or mewing. He stared down at his little paws then looked at Pepper and back at his paws again.

_Aww crap…_


	2. Communication

-Thanks for views and rewies! I know it's a bit of an odd story and everything but it was a random thought that I had one day and thought it would be pretty funny. Enjoy-

Communication

"T–Tony, is that you?"

The little tiger cub stared at her as she slowly edged forward before it just collapsed on the bed and let out a series of little growls, almost as if complaining.

_Of all the people in the world, heck of all the Avengers, why did it have to be me?! _He looked at his chest, glad to see the familiar blue glow from his (now even smaller) arc and knew that would mean that Pepper could easily guess it was him.

"Tony, what the hell happened?! You're a tiger cub!" she knelt down on the floor and looked at the small tiger cub lying on the bed in front of her and when she asked the cub simply rolled his eyes and looked at her. _I can't speak, Pepper!_

"Did… Did you just roll your eyes at me?" she sighed "Look Anthony…"

_Uh oh full name _

"I don't care that you're a tiger cub, you're still a genius! Work something out!" She was clearly frustrated but he knew the reason why.

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_Eight hours earlier_

_"Pep, please say that you're coming home. I don't…" he sighed "I need you, Pepper"_

_"Of course I am, Tony. The jet is turning round and flying back, I'll be with you in a few hours. Are you sure you're ok?"_

_"Relax Potts…I'm ok. No…Major injuries thanks to Bruce I guess."_

_"Will you at least have someone check your wounds?"_

_"Nope"_

_"Anthony."_

_"Yes dear?"_

_She sighed "Just don't do anything stupid and yes that means no alcohol. At least none till I'm home then we an do whatever you want"_

_"Can we just…Watch TV and eat pizza?"_

_"I'll pick up a pepperoni pizza on my way home"_

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Tony leapt off the bed, tumbling as he landed before bounding off out of their bedroom in search of Pepper's ipad, knowing that it was probably the easiest way of communicating other than nodding or shaking his head at questions. Of course, it didn't take long for Pepper to catch up with him since he was only small and she followed him curiously before he spotted her bag and jumped on it.

"With those paws and claws you won't be able to use my laptop, Tony. Plus you're not going anywhere near my mouse in case you try to eat it" she giggled slightly then lifted Tony off of her bag and held the little cub in one arm as she searched through her bag. Each time she pulled something out he would shake his head and she would pull another item out until she pulled out her ipad and he tried to wriggle free.

"No" she looked at the little cub as it growled slightly "What?! You're not getting your mucky paws all over this! No. No using it until you have had a bath or something" The little cub growled and tried to wriggle free then gave up and went limp.


	3. Bath Time

-Just a short update for you, thanks for reviews! Please do continue to review! And if you can think of any funny situations for Pepper and Tony the Tiger please give them to me! All are welcome and I will try to do all of them!

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Bath Time

"TONY I SWEAR TO GOD IF YOU DON'T STOP SLPASHING I WILL SEND YOU TO THE ZOO OR SOMETHING!" Pepper yelled as Tony continued to splash around in their bath, having far too much fun (later denying it when he was human again) and getting Pepper soaked in the process.

The little cub stopped and looked up to see Pepper wiping water from her eyes, clearly unhappy and Tony could tell from the look in her eyes so he simply curled his tail around him and tried to use his new form to his advantage. Having wiped her eyes, Pepper looked at Tony the tiger and sighed seeing him curled up and looking at up at her, mewing pathetically

"Just because you look cute doesn't mean you're off the hook, Anthony"

_Damn it… Plan B…Wait do I even have a plan B?_

"Have you quite finished splashing around now?" With a little nod in reply, Pepper got a towel and picked the cub up, drying him and sighing. "If you ever do that again while you're like this I _will_ take you to the zoo…That or I'll use the hairdryer on you"

The cub let out a few little growls of complaint then tried to wriggle free until Pepper started drying behind his ears to which he simply collapsed, completely relaxed at that very moment, forgetting everything and starting to purr.

"T-Tony? Is that..?...Are you purring?" She laughed and as he went to complain she picked him up and started scratching behind his ears again, sending his paw twitching.

"I am _never_ going to let you forget this, Tony Stark" She giggled as he practically melted into her arms.


	4. Territory

**Here's another chapter for you! Don't forget to review as well! All reviews are welcome. Also I welcome any suggestions for scenarios with Tony the Tiger, anything that you guys think could be funny. Anyway, enjoy!**

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Territory

Having fully enjoyed bath time, Tony the tiger cub was now curled up on Pepper's lap as she lightly scratched behind his ears making him melt further into her lap. It had been a log, somewhat confusing day for them both. Pepper had returned to New York only to find that Tony had been turned into a tiger then proceeded to soak her by splashing around in the bath. The night was more relaxed though. That is until Jarvis announced that someone was at the door to which Pepper and Tony just looked at each other unsure what would happen. Tony was expecting Rhodes to be at the door and then to laugh at his current state and find new ways to make fun of him at a later date so simply tried to hide under a pillow but the person at the door wasn't Rhodey. It was a SHIELD agent who had come to debrief Tony on the events with Loki and the destruction of most of New York. Pepper was in the middle of telling the agent that Tony was currently asleep and that he shouldn't be disturbed because he needed the rest when a little growl could be heard coming from the couch and all that could be seen was a little orange and black tail flicking from side to side.

"Oh...I didn't know that Mr Stark had a cat…"

Pepper rolled her eyes upon seeing Tony's failed attempt at hiding "Yes… We got the cat very recently…"

While the conversation continued, Tony poked his head out from under the pillow and watched Pepper talking with the agent then almost started growling as the man gently touched Pepper's arm to comfort her. _That's my job slime ball! Get away from my girl!_ He thought, completely forgetting that in his current state that was rather difficult to do apart from jumping into her lap and rubbing his fury little cheek against her cheek. Jealous (although he would never admit that he was in fact extremely jealous) he leapt off the couch and bounded over to Pepper, growling at the agent who simply stared down at him, looking slightly confused. Of course, when you are the size of a small cat, it's hard to be intimidating and very, very easy to become jealous.

After the agent had left, asking Pepper to get in touch with SHIELD as soon as Tony was available, she went to the kitchen to find something for him to eat, chuckling to herself at the sudden thought of giving him tuna simply because he was currently a cat. Meanwhile, Tony was running around the whole of the penthouse, stopping every now and then to leave his sent in random places, including on the couch, until he reached the kitchen and without thinking tried to leave his sent on Pepper. "TONY WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING?!" she looked down at Tony who was currently sent marking a small corner of the bar "Oh my God, are you marking your territory?! Tony that's disgusting! And absolutely pointless!"

_It is absolutely necessary! Have you seen the size of me?! Not exactly big and scary!_

Pepper wiped off her leg and glared at him "Was it really necessary to mark me as your territory?! Tony, the whole world knows about us because you can't keep a secret!"

_I have poor impulse control! You should know that!_

She sighed and lifted him up, looking him in the eyes "No more marking your territory or I will get you neutered or something" she tried to keep a straight face as he tried to cross his legs "Now. Are you going to behave while I go have a shower? And before you even think about it, no you can't join me" she smirked slightly as the cub nodded and she put him on the ground again, putting the plate of tuna on the floor for him "Be a good cub and eat your dinner"


	5. Cat Vs Cord

**Thanks to inque28 for the ideas behind this chapter! Hope you enjoyed the last chapter (as random as it was…And as random as this whole story is!) and I hope that you enjoy this new instalment!**

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**Cat Vs Cord**

Tony was woken by the sunlight spilling into the room through the large windows of the master bedroom and he yawned before opening his eyes and looking around to see Pepper fast asleep still. Not surprising since he had kept her awake half the night by constantly fidgeting and running around, pouncing on spots of light that had been reflected off various surfaces. He sat on the bed for a while just watching Pepper sleep, thinking of how lucky he was that she had stuck by his side and hadn't run off the moment she found out he had been turned into a tiger. That was until his stomach growled and he suddenly felt very hungry. Of course being a tiger and in the middle of New York he can't exactly go and find some food on his own and he couldn't exactly open any cupboards since he had found out that he couldn't reach the handles to open them. He nudged Peppers arm a few times and when she didn't wake up he decided he needed to do something to wake her as his stomach growled again so he simply jumped up onto her and tried to roar a few times. This woke her up.

_Bad move, Stark…_

He looked at Pepper as she sat up and glared at him for waking her, decided it would be better to retreat and turned tail to run off the bed and leap onto the floor. "TONY!" she climb out of bed, pulling her robe on and storming out of the room after the little blur of orange and black. He ran as fast as he could, tumbling into one of the kitchen cabinets as he skidded across the floor.

"Anthony Edward Stark! You get your little fury behind back here right now!"

She followed him into the kitchen and picked him up by the scruff of his neck and giving him the signature "Pepper glare" that he knew too well. "Why did you wake me up?!" The only response she got was the sound of his stomach growling again and she sighed, putting him down on the floor and rubbing her eyes and taking out another can of tuna from the cupboards and putting it onto a plate for him. However, when she turned around to place the plate on the floor for him, he was gone so she placed the pate on the counter and went in search. _He can't have gone far…one, he's lazy and two, he can't open any of the doors so he can't have gone to the workshop_

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She was right, he hadn't gone far. In fact he'd gotten as far as the couch and had found a pair of trainers which he had spotted on his way towards the kitchen. The one thing that he had noticed in particular was the laces. When Pepper found him he was chewing on one of the shoe laces and playing tug of war with the shoe and she simply laughed "Oh dear…" she picked up the shoe and tried to take it from him to witch he simply tugged hard. "I swear you're turning into a cat or something!" she giggled and tugged a bit harder "Let go! I need that if you're going to want more food!"

Despite the mention of food, he continued to tug and swipe at the cord, trying to tug it from Pepper's hand. She did actually need her shoe and if Tony the tiger wouldn't let go then she would have to find a way to distract him away from the cord so she let go of the shoe and watched him play.

About half an hour later and he was now running around with the shoe lace in his mouth, having managed to pull it free of the shoe and run off as Pepper started to yell at him to drop the shoe lace. Thanks to Jarvis, Pepper had finally found something to distract him from the shoe lace. She clicked the button on the laser pointer, shining it on the ground just in front of the little tiger that dropped the shoe lace and stared at the red spot on the ground. She grinned, seeing that her plan had worked and moved to point it on the ground a bit further away to witch Tony pounced on it, trying to catch it in his front paws only to see that the red spot was now in fact on his paws. He began putting one paw on top of the other, trying to cover the red spot and catch it, causing Pepper to laugh "For a genius you are not that clever at times" she giggled, picking up the lace now that he had lost interest, teasing him by moving the light around and watching him run after it and try to climb up the wall.


	6. The Art of Hunting

**Hope you enjoy this new chapter! Again if you have any scenes you'd like to see, let me know! Please R&R, I welcome all reviews! **

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The art of hunting

"MOUSE!" Pepper practically screeched as she saw the little brown mouse run across the floor of the room. After the battle in New York against Loki, Stark Tower was undergoing a fair few repairs since the Hulk had decided to throw Loki around, leaving Loki-shape indents in the floor. This meant that a few areas of the tower were exposed and therefore led to small opportunistic rodents taking up residence in the tower.

Tony looked at Pepper with a look that said "What am I meant to do?" then returned to his previous curled up position.

"Tony, for goodness sake! Do something!" she shrieked, trying to perch on the edge of the couch, as far away from the small brown rodent as possible "You're a tiger cub! Chase it or something!" Tony just looked at her and then the mouse and curled up again.

"ANTHONY STARK!"

That got his attention. He knew he'd be in trouble if he didn't at least try and do something about the resident and so reluctantly got up and went on the prowl, searching for the mouse as Pepper remained in her current curled up position.

Tony had seen cats hunting on numerous wildlife documentaries and so had a rough idea of how a cat hunts of course when you have a blue glowing circle in your chest it's not as easy as it should be. _I should make an arc that doesn't glow… And a stealth suit…I could use retro-reflective panels…Wrong time Stark, focus on that darn mouse._

He slowly crept up on the small rodent, making sure that his arc was obscured by something so that the glow wouldn't give him away, making sure he was as low to the ground as he could get. _This is how they do it, right?_ Slowly creeping forward, almost shuffling along on his stomach until he was close enough to the sitting rodent, his tail twitching slightly. With a great leap, he pounced on to the mouse, catching it in his paws and holding it on the ground. Of course, he'd never use to pay much attention to the wildlife documentaries, partly because he had distractions and partly because he would find something better to watch on the giant flat screen. He stared down at the rodent with absolutely no clue as to what he should do next with the mouse now that he had captured it.

"Get rid of it!" Pepper yelled at him, having watched the whole scene between the mouse and the cub. Not having any idea what to do, he took the mouse, holding its tail in his mouth, and went over to one of the workmen who was currently bending down and clearing some rubble on the ground. Knowing that he couldn't exactly ask the man to take the mouse and dispose of hit, he padded over to the workman's bag and dropped the mouse in before tugging at the zip and closing it then sprinting to the safety of the couch before he noticed and decided he should go else where when he saw Pepper's disapproving look, sprinting as fast as he could towards their bedroom with Pepper in pursuit.


	7. Caught on Camera

**Thanks for all the views and reviews! Sorry for the delay in updating, again if you have any scenes you'd like to se, let me know! Enjoy and please review! **

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Caught on Camera

Another hot day and another day as a tiger for Tony, waiting for Thor to return from Asgard or for the effects to fade. The morning had been spent with Pepper, in the pool, splashing around and swimming away as fast as he could after jumping on her and soaking her. Of course, it didn't take long for her to catch him but he used his current form to his advantage and she instantly forgave him. Unfortunately she had been called for a meeting with the board of directors so Tony was on his own for the afternoon and he decided to wander round the place. He had wandered to the door f his workshop but Pepper had locked him out given the fact that he was small and didn't have opposable thumbs so he simply sat at the door and stared into the room through the glass door. After a while he got bored and padded off to find something to do and stumbled upon some lavender. Why it was there he wasn't sure but there was something about it that seemed different and so went to investigate.

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_The previous day_

_Rhodey entered the tower having heard what had happened in NY and what Tony had done. Wondering how his best friend was he rushed up to the penthouse in search of Tony and Pepper _

_"Tony?!"_

Oh no… _Was the only thing that Tony could think before Rhodey spotted Pepper and a small tiger cub_

_"Er… Pepper? Where's Tony and… Why on earth is there a tiger cub sitting there? Did you let him go to the zoo? You know he wants to buy half of the animals there, right?"_

_Pepper chuckled slightly "Yes, I know and…Something happened… Tony was… Well, he was turned into a tiger cub by Loki…" She trailed off and looked at Tony who was curled up next to her, worrying what Rhodey's reaction would be. Tony, of course, knew what it would be. Rhodey stared at Tony the simply burst out laughing_

_"I am _never_ going to let you forget this, man"_

_A few hours later and Tony had fallen asleep so Rhodey had started plotting with Pepper and started to get everything together and ready for tomorrow when they would play their prank on Tony. All they needed was catnip, a phone call for a fake board meeting and access to the security cameras in the tower._

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When Pepper returned from her "meeting" she found the cushions everywhere and most of the place trashed slightly and the centre of it all was Tony, attempting to look innocent despite the fact that he had been caught red handed (or rather… Red pawed). The plan had worked perfectly and Tony had been hyper all day, running around and causing chaos in the for of a small orange and black blur.


	8. Marking My Territory

**Thanks to Miel14 for the idea for this chapter and thanks to all of you for reading and reviewing! Sorry for the slow updates but I shall blame holidays and being busy. I'll try to update this story as soon as possible and I may start another seperate Iron Man/Pepperony fanfic so keep a look out! Hope you enjoy this chapter!**

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Marking my territory 

Tony had been a tiger cub for nearly three weeks since the events of the New York battle which meant people were starting to wonder where he was. The press slowly started gathering outside Stark Tower, trying to ask anyone who came out of the building or entered if they had seen Tony Stark. Of course no one ever answered any of the questions they were bombarded with at the entrance to the building which led to various rumors and lots of speculation about where the billionaire was. Many thought that he had gone into hiding after the battle, saying he was suffering from post traumatic stress disorder or that he had been so badly injured that he was bedridden and couldn't leave. As always there were ridiculous speculations amongst the sensible ones, including speculations that Pepper was holding him hostage or that the aliens had managed to rip him from the suit and throw the suit back through the wormhole.

Unfortunately (and much to Tony's annoyance), one of Pepper's ex-boyfriends, called Shaun, had started sniffing around since no one had seen Tony recently and as Tony walked out of his bedroom yawning he saw this intruder with Pepper, on the couch talking. Tony started growling but neither of them could hear the little growl coming from the tiger that was slowly making its way towards them. As Tony got closer to the two, he could hear everything they were saying and could see everything Shaun was doing.

"I gotta say, Virginia. You look amazing! It's been too long sinc we last saw each other" Shaun said, Tony started growling even more as the man started flitting with his girlfriend.

Shaun and Pepper then frowned as they both heard the growling from Tony and both slowly turned to look at the cub, crouched by the couch, growling specifically at Shaun.

"Is that a tiger? Is it Stark's? I-Is it even legal to have a tiger?!" he said, backing away from Tony as Tony advanced towards him

"Tony! Stop it! Be nice!" Pepper said, trying to pull him back but Tony broke free and pounced on Shaun.

Being a cub made it difficult to do anything other than make the man fall backwards so trying to be threatening was kind of difficult in this situation as Shaun had simply picked him up and dropped him on the floor before standing up and yelling at Pepper that she and Tony were crazy to be keeping a tiger as a pet. Knowing that he could do nothing else as Shaun turned to look back at Tony, the cub turned to face the other way, lifted its little tail then sprayed urine all over the intruder before walking round to Pepper's side. Pepper simply smirked, picked the little cub up and whispered "Well done" to him before looking to her ex-boyfriend and saying with a hint of sarcasm "You know, I don't think he likes you". With another smirk from Pepper and a little growl from the cub who looked rather pleased with himself, Shaun left the tower, being bombarded by the reporters who, having smelt him before seeing him, asked what had happened in the tower and why he smelt of tiger's urine, leaving with what little dignity he had left. Once Shaun had gone, Pepper sat back down on the couch and petted Tony, who was sitting on her lap purring.

"Thank you my little jealous cub" she giggled as Tony started to try and complain only to be interrupted as Pepper scratched behind his ear, sending him into a purring frenzy.


End file.
